Waterloo end memorable season with title triumph

Waterloo 22, Longton 3. WATERLOO brought their memorable National League Three North season to a triumphant conclusion at Blundellsands on Saturday, but not before they had been put under far more pressure than anyone expected.

Waterloo 22, Longton 3. WATERLOO brought their memorable National League Three North season to a triumphant conclusion at Blundellsands on Saturday, but not before they had been put under far more pressure than anyone expected.

Lowly Longton, who had won only one league game all season and lost 56-0 to Waterloo on their own ground, refused to behave like sacrificial lambs and, to their great credit, forced their opponents to win the hard way.

At half-time they trailed by just 5-3 and would actually have been in front if emergency fly-half Paul Green had not pulled his second penalty kick just wide and then missed with an attempted drop goal.

It was not until the spectators' player of the season, Nijike Tchakoute, crashed over following a line-out in the 55th minute to augment Dave Mercer's early try, that Waterloo really took command, and even then it was never easy.

Skipper Tony Handley made a fine break on the hour to open the way for a try by Mark Tattersall that Handley converted, and in the closing minutes the side's two most dangerous runners, Freeman Payne and Jan Van Deventer, combined beautifully to put the latter over for his 28th try of the season.

Longton's pack battled away manfully throughout, their backs missed hardly a tackle and though they did not produce many attacking movements, full-back Richard McCreaney came close to grabbing a first-half try after Scott Rawlings had made a break and then kicked ahead.

The match was also so disrupted by injuries that there were a full 15 minutes of added time. The most significant probably involved Waterloo lock Paul White, who had been carrying an injury for some time, and his replacement by Dan Palmer made matters even more tricky, because the latter is a relative lightweight.

All these factors help to explain why the champions had to be content with four tries and one conversion, taking their league total to a record-breaking 138, in addition to a further 35 in the Power-gen competitions.

They may not have got very near their widely anticipated league total of 1,000 points, but they did remind everyone of their ability to rise to the big occasion and duly clinched, not only the Third Division (North) champion-ship, but Rugby World's 'Team of the Year' award - open to every club outside the Premiership.

This was presented by the club's vice president, Gill Burns, president of the Women's RFU, and a lady sufficiently close to the game's playing side to take a full part, along with president Tony Pugh, in a veterans' curtain-raiser involving some 70 players.

Those competing also included famous names like Maurice Cotter, Jim Siddall, Ian Ball, Laurie Connor, Dave Carfoot, the Ashcroft brothers, Peter Buckton and Jane Molineux to emphasise how the team's performance has helped to put new life back into a famous club, who seemed to be losing their way a couple of years ago.

The RFU failed to send either the championship trophy or a representative to deliver personal congratulations, so Waterloo were forced to improvise by providing president Pugh with an old, but reengraved, solid silver cup to present instead.